Fresh is Always Better

Happy Fall Everyone! 

 Fall is my FAVORITE time of year! Crisp mornings, beautiful colors, jeans again!, sweaters, pumpkin everything, and lots of yummy things cooking in the kitchen...these are a few of my favorite fall things.  Some of the most loved fall flavors are pumpkin and apples in breads, muffins, crisps, pies and of course, coffee.   In tribute to fall flavors, today, I'm sharing a little secret with you!

 I have my grandma, aunts and mama to thank for my love of whole, fresh ingredients and most everything we cooked, baked and ate when I was growing up was from the garden or made from scratch.  We never bought pancake or muffin mix, because it was easy and more tasty to make them!  I know...measuring flour and soda and whipping butter, etc. takes time but I challenge you to try it! It really is worth the extra time it takes to use fresh ingredients, found in nature, that you can pronounce. Which leads me to my little secret today...



Know what this little gem is??

 

Fresh Nutmeg Seeds!

Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg....these are some of the classic flavors in fall dishes. Of course you can buy the pumpkin spice blend and it makes life really simple.  But fresh nutmeg is one of those things that is SOOOO easy and makes all the difference!    Nutmeg comes from the seed of the Myristica fragrans tree and you can buy them in the bulk section.  I get mine from Fred Meyer and they are super inexpensive!  Like pennies compared to the $3.99 you pay for a small jar of ground nutmeg, and they have a wonderful aroma and flavor.  

Simply store them in a little spice jar and grab one out when you need it.  Use a microplane to grate up just the amount you need for what you're making.  Now I'm really terrible at measuring things, so I usually just eyeball it and throw in what I think is the right amount, but you can measure it if you're the kind of person that needs to be exact!

Here's what it looks like grated..

I promise once you try this, you will never go back to the jars of bland, ground nutmeg!  I would love to hear your comments on easy, little secrets that you use in the kitchen that make your dishes delicious and easy.

Bon  appetit!